Clarington

CLARINGTON, ONTARIO A PHENOMENAL QUALITY OF LIFE C larington Ontario is a lower-tier mu- nicipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, and is part of the GTHA- the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area -Canada’s largest and fastest growing urban region.“We’re the eastern most part of the GTHA,” says Mayor Adrian Foster.“The tagline is that the sun gently caresses Clarington before it reaches the rest of Toronto,”he adds, a bit more poetically. Clarington was originally incorporated in 1973 as the Town of Newcastle with the merg- ing of the Town of Bowmanville and the Town- ships of Clarke and Darlington. In 1993, the mu- nicipality was renamed Clarington, a blend of the names of the original Townships of Clarke and Darlington.Today, Clarington is comprised of four urban centers: Courtice, Bowmanville, Village of Newcastle, and Orono, and 14 rural hamlets.“We’re a community of communities,” says Foster.“We’ve got the four urban areas and we’ve got the rural agricultural sector. So our community of Clarington really has quite a bit of diversity.We’re the largest geographic area in the GTHA (236 square miles) and within that area is this mixture of uses and opportunities.” “Our community is a blend of rural and urban centers and it will always remain that way,” says Sheila Hall, Clarington’s Economic Development Director,“80 percent of our land is protected by various provincial legislation.”The northern AT A GLANCE CLARINGTON, ONTARIO WHAT: A municipality of 85,000 WHERE: In the Durham Region of Ontario east of Toronto WEBSITE: www.clarington.net